This week June 22-28 is the International Days of Prayer for the victims
of Landmines. Please pray for the victims and send an e-mail to
<hi.mines@...> saying that you are doing so. I am sending more
information about the event below. This information was sent to me by the
International Committee for the Peace Council of which beloved and
worshipful Gurudev Sri Swami Chidanandaji Maharaj is a member.

In a related issue, there is a bill which has been introduced in the
congress (USA) which seeks to get President Clinton to sign the ban treaty
in December 1997. I have enclosed a list of senators who support the bill
below. Please send an e-mail to your senator and ask him/her to support
the bill or thank him/her if he/she is already supporting the bill. You
can go to http://vote-smart.org/ and key in your zipcode to find out who
your senator is. I have also enclosed a sample letter below which you can
send to your senator. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need any
assistance.

Thank you very much for your cooperation.

Yours in service of Gurudev,

Pannir
_____________________________________

BE CAREFUL WHEN YOU PROMISE: While the Master was leaving the place of
Satsang after it was over, a visitor approached him and requested the
Master to allot some time for an interview.

"Five o'clock tomorrow, but no promise," replied the Master.

Then turning to the people around him, he said, "Do not give any promise.
Even if you are sure of going to a certain place at 10a.m., do not say, 'I
will go'. Say, 'I will try'. This is my method. Otherwise, if you fail to
go, people will say that you promised and did not keep to it."

_____________________________________

"Just as, when we touch a live wire, the electric force infuses itself
into our body, when we deeply meditate on God the power of the whole
universe seeks entry into our personality." - Swami Krishnananda

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June 22 - 28, 1997

INTERNATIONAL DAYS OF PRAYER FOR VICTIMS OF LANDMINES

DAYS OF PRAYER
From June 24 to 27, 1997, diplomats and humanitarian organizations from
many nations will meet in Brussels, Belgium to draft an international
treaty banning landmines. It will be ready for signing in Ottawa, Canada,
in December, 1997.

Persons of all faiths will gather to pray in Brussels and elsewhere
around the world, June 22-28. They will offer their prayers in support
of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and they will pray for an
end to the suffering of millions of victims.

Please join us in prayer on June 22-28, and ask your faith community to
pray with us for the relief of this suffering. Now is the time to pray
and to act.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?
* Support national policies to ban the production, use, stockpiling, and
export of landmines.
* Urge your government to push for the international treaty outlawing
landmines as inhumane, indiscriminate weapons.
* Tell others; and help any of the hundreds of organizations around the
world that are working to ban and to remove landmines, and to heal
victims.

* Join us in prayer on June 22-28, 1997.
* Please tell us that you are praying with us. Send a fax to the Brussels
office of the Jesuit Refugee Service - Europe (fax +32-2-738-0864) or to
the USA office of the International Committee for the Peace Council (fax
+1 608 423-4966) or send e-mail to hi.mines@...

HIDDEN KILLERS - LANDMINE FACTS
* Landmines kill or wound over 26,000 people a year, mainly civilians.
* Landmines are weapons of war, but most are left behind after the
soldiers have gone: over 100 million remain hidden: indiscriminate
killers in more than 60 countries, turning fields, woods, paths, and
villages into death traps.
* Tens of millions of people live with the constant horror of suddenly
losing a leg, a life, or a child's life. Every 20 minutes a landmine
explodes somewhere.
* Landmines cost very little to produce - as little as $3 to $30 each -
but it costs from $300 to $1000 to remove one.
* Every year about 5,000,000 landmines are made and 2,500,000 are
deployed, but only about 100,000 are removed.
* The countries most severely afflicted by landmines are Afghanistan,
Angola, Bosnia, Cambodia, Croatia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iraq, Mozambique,
Somalia, and Sudan.
* In Cambodia, for example, there are more than 35,000 amputees: one out
of every 200 Cambodians has lost one or more limbs to a landmine
explosion.
*The only solution is a total ban on the production, use, trade, and
stockpiling of anti-personnel landmines, and an international commitment
to clear existing minefields.

----------------------------

June 22 - 28, 1997
INTERNATIONAL DAYS OF PRAYER FOR VICTIMS OF LANDMINES

People of all faiths are praying for an end to the horror and suffering
inflicted by landmines. Please join us.

The International Campaign to Ban Landmines, launched in 1992, includes
over 1000 human rights, humanitarian, medical, development, arms control,
and environmental groups in over 40 countries. A ban has been endorsed by
UNICEF, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations General
Assembly, and many nations. The Peace Council supports the campaign to
ban landmines: Dr. Oscar Arias Sanchez, former President of Costa Rica
and winner of the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize; Dr. Dalil Boubakeur, rector of
the Islamic Institute at the Paris Mosque; Dr. Elise Boulding, Quaker
peace activist; Swami Chidananda Saraswati, president of the Divine Life
Society, India; Sister Joan Chittister, OSB, Bendictine nun, author, and
activist; Prof. Dr. Chung Hyun Kyung, Professor of Ecumenics at Union
Theological Seminary, New York; Samdech Preah Maha Ghosananda, supreme
leader of Cambodian Buddhism; H.H. Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama, winner
of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize; Rev. Thomas Keating, OCSO, Cistercian monk
and former abbot of St. Joseph's Abbey; Imam W. Deen Mohammed, prominent
U.S. Muslim leader; Ven. Samdhong Rinpoche, Chairman of the Assembly of
Tibetan People's Deputies; Most Rev. Samuel Ruiz Garcma, Roman Catholic
Bishop of San Cristsbal de las Casas (Chiapas), Mexico; H.E. Dr. L.M.
Singhvi, Jain scholar and High Commissioner of India to the United
Kingdom; Most Rev. Desmond Tutu, former Archbishop of Cape Town, South
Africa and winner of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize; and Rabbi Levi
Weiman-Kelman, leader of the Kehilat Kol Haneshama congregation in
Jerusalem. Many other religious and spiritual leaders publicly support
the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, including H.H. John-Paul II,
Bishop of Rome and Pope of the Roman Catholic Church; Bishop Dr. Klaus
Engelhardt, Chairman of the Council of the Evangelical Church of Germany;
Bishop Dr. Karl Lehmann, chair of the German Conference of Roman Catholic
Bishops; Rev. Dr. Joan Campbell, General Secretary of the National
Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA; Rev. Rodney Page, Executive
Director, Church World Service; Dr. Kathryn Woolford, Executive Director,
Lutheran World Relief; and many, many others!

Sample letter (you must have your name and mailing address in your letter
to the senator):

Dear Senator _________________,

I am disappointed that the US is not participating in the Ottawa process
in December '97 to sign an international treaty to ban the use,
production, stockpiling and transfer of antipersonnel landmines. Landmines
kill or maim 25,000 people per year including an appalling number of
children. Many veterans who have been down in the mud among the mines and
a platoon of retired generals including Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf are
calling for a ban on this weapon.

Please support the Leahy-Hagel landmines bill to ban landmines. The
sooner we get this indiscriminate weapon banned, the sooner we can start
healing the physical and psychological wounds of victims of this insidious
weapon.

Yours sincerely,

(Name & Address)

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